Dwelling place amusement
Feb. 16th, 2006 04:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
altivoWell, enough people have done that "Where should you live?" meme now that I can poke fun without naming names and none of you should take it personally.
The truth is, I'm greatly amused by the number of folks, especially young urban/suburban types, who either come up with the rural or hermit in the wilderness results or claim to want them. Especially in cases where I know the individuals involved well enough to know that they could not easily live without: cell phones, internet, computers, computer or console games, television, movies, electricity, or fast food/take out food/frozen convenience food.
I live on the edge between the small towns and open farmlands. It's true. You can't get cable TV or broadband internet here. The voice lines don't even work reliably, especially in stormy, wet, or extreme cold weather. Electricity is usually on but frequently goes off for anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. The nearest fast food place (a McDeath's) is only four miles away, but that's a lot of gas or a lot of bicycle-pedaling to go very often. For anything else, you have to travel ten to twenty miles. Net connectivity depends on the voice lines and dialup, so there's no downloading music or video junk. There is no natural gas for heating or cooking. Everything is either electric and subject to unpredictable periods of non-functionality, or relies on bottled propane gas (costly) or a woodstove (labor intensive) in order to make heat to cook or keep you warm.
Now, when you talk about becoming a hermit in the middle of Montana or up in the mountains, you go a couple of orders of magnitude more remote. Medical and emergency care is out of reach. You may need a wind generator to have electricity. It may be a hundred miles to the fast food restaurant or at least the equivalent in effort because of the ups and downs. Weather is more severe too. You will probably have to cut, split, and cure your own firewood, and learn to use it frugally. Or be dependent on trading other services to your neighbors in return for firewood that they've prepared. The same goes for food. Successful gardening is hard work. I've done enough of it to know. Preserving garden vegetables so you have food in January and February is more work, if you even know how. You can't rely on freezers alone if your electricity is unreliable. Or what if the freezer mechanism fails? So you have to learn canning, preserving, and drying food, which is also very labor intensive. Curing and preserving meat is even more tricky, and fraught with dangers that can kill you. Botulism, for instance, comes from the Latin word for sausage: botulinum. That's because the Romans first recognized it in people who had eaten improperly cured sausages. I've been doing food preservation and preparation for almost half a century, and I won't risk meat other than by freezing.
Can you sew well enough to at least repair your own clothing adequately? Can you cook? Including making bread or biscuits from scratch? Can you operate a radio well enough to obtain help in an emergency? Can you live without all those amenities you take for granted? Can you repair your own vehicle well enough to at least get it to take you to the nearest real mechanic, who may be 20 or 50 miles away?
Sure, the life of a mountain man may seem romantic and full of beautiful scenery, but the truth is mostly you don't have time to look up and enjoy it. In the summer you brave mosquitoes and black flies and work sixteen hours a day in order to put by enough food and fuel to survive the winter on. In the winter you spend all your energy trying to keep from freezing, starving, or getting scurvy. And in truth, a lot of those I see professing to want rural or wilderness existence complain about being bored out of their skulls now when they live in suburbs or small towns. Nuh-uh. It won't work folks. Time for a reconsideration.
The truth is, I'm greatly amused by the number of folks, especially young urban/suburban types, who either come up with the rural or hermit in the wilderness results or claim to want them. Especially in cases where I know the individuals involved well enough to know that they could not easily live without: cell phones, internet, computers, computer or console games, television, movies, electricity, or fast food/take out food/frozen convenience food.
I live on the edge between the small towns and open farmlands. It's true. You can't get cable TV or broadband internet here. The voice lines don't even work reliably, especially in stormy, wet, or extreme cold weather. Electricity is usually on but frequently goes off for anywhere from a few seconds to a few hours. The nearest fast food place (a McDeath's) is only four miles away, but that's a lot of gas or a lot of bicycle-pedaling to go very often. For anything else, you have to travel ten to twenty miles. Net connectivity depends on the voice lines and dialup, so there's no downloading music or video junk. There is no natural gas for heating or cooking. Everything is either electric and subject to unpredictable periods of non-functionality, or relies on bottled propane gas (costly) or a woodstove (labor intensive) in order to make heat to cook or keep you warm.
Now, when you talk about becoming a hermit in the middle of Montana or up in the mountains, you go a couple of orders of magnitude more remote. Medical and emergency care is out of reach. You may need a wind generator to have electricity. It may be a hundred miles to the fast food restaurant or at least the equivalent in effort because of the ups and downs. Weather is more severe too. You will probably have to cut, split, and cure your own firewood, and learn to use it frugally. Or be dependent on trading other services to your neighbors in return for firewood that they've prepared. The same goes for food. Successful gardening is hard work. I've done enough of it to know. Preserving garden vegetables so you have food in January and February is more work, if you even know how. You can't rely on freezers alone if your electricity is unreliable. Or what if the freezer mechanism fails? So you have to learn canning, preserving, and drying food, which is also very labor intensive. Curing and preserving meat is even more tricky, and fraught with dangers that can kill you. Botulism, for instance, comes from the Latin word for sausage: botulinum. That's because the Romans first recognized it in people who had eaten improperly cured sausages. I've been doing food preservation and preparation for almost half a century, and I won't risk meat other than by freezing.
Can you sew well enough to at least repair your own clothing adequately? Can you cook? Including making bread or biscuits from scratch? Can you operate a radio well enough to obtain help in an emergency? Can you live without all those amenities you take for granted? Can you repair your own vehicle well enough to at least get it to take you to the nearest real mechanic, who may be 20 or 50 miles away?
Sure, the life of a mountain man may seem romantic and full of beautiful scenery, but the truth is mostly you don't have time to look up and enjoy it. In the summer you brave mosquitoes and black flies and work sixteen hours a day in order to put by enough food and fuel to survive the winter on. In the winter you spend all your energy trying to keep from freezing, starving, or getting scurvy. And in truth, a lot of those I see professing to want rural or wilderness existence complain about being bored out of their skulls now when they live in suburbs or small towns. Nuh-uh. It won't work folks. Time for a reconsideration.
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no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 02:02 am (UTC)I haven't seen/taken this particular meme, but I know my domesticated dog self better than to think I'd ever be comfortable out in the wilds. Cable internet, halfway decent public transport links and 24hr minimarkets all the way for me! C. familiaris pridez represent! Etc. ;)
no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 02:34 am (UTC)Shortly after we moved in here (can it be almost 8 years ago?) we had our first power outage. Lights and heat were out for about 24 hours and the wind was gusting to gale force and above. It was a bit of an awakening as we realized we had no oil lamps and in fact, no matches in the house to start the woodstove nor any wood to fuel it. That was all corrected very quickly.
I don't mind isolation for periods of time, but I know from experience that I don't want to spend all my energy on survival issues, which is what happens when you try to live that way permanently. Even then, it's not computer games and commercial entertainment I would miss, as is going to be the case with the younger set, but rather time to read, write, and create. The reality of the hard work required to survive on your own tends to be forgotten in the romance of unspoiled views and magnificent solitude we build up in our minds. The truth of it, though, is that you never get to look at the stars or the wildlife but in tiny glimpses because your head is down all the time making sure you have adequate food and shelter.
no subject
Date: 2006-02-17 03:53 am (UTC)Not that I'm particularly proud, or ashamed, of being Mr Wimpy Urban Dogfox. I'm not tough enough to be all wildernessy wolfy, but hey, that's me. Folks with a romanticised view of country living baffle me a little, because I've never shared that view.
If I were in that sort of mood, I'd make some kind of crack about the relative numbers of dog and wolf furs/kin/totems...